Waking Nightmares: Magic Lives
by KnightMysterio
Summary: Sidestory of Waking Nightmares. At the end of Rainbow Rocks, Sunset Shimmer became an alicorn. This was the catalyst for magic in the Equestria Girls world to revive. But it has not come alone, bringing the shadowy servant of a blank-faced monstrosity...


_**Waking Nightmares – Magic Lives**_

_**An Equestria Girls fanfiction**_

_**by Jonathan "KnightMysterio" Spires**_

_**Chapter 1: Going Home**_

_All characters not original copyrighted to their original owners, used for non-profit amusement reasons. All original characters copyrighted to me. Comments, compliments, and constructive criticism are appreciated and encouraged. Flames will be ignored. Events take place two years before the start of Waking Nightmares. _

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_Canterlot High Stadium..._

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"GOT THE MUSIC IN OUR HEARTS!

WE'RE HERE TO BLOW THIS THING APART!

AND TOGETHER

WE WILL NEVER

BE AFRAID OF THE DARK!

HERE TO SING OUR SONG OUT LOUD

GET YOU DANCING WITH THE CROWD!

AS THE MUSIC

OF OUR FRIENDSHIP

SURVIVES!

SURVIVES!

_SURVIVES!_"

Sunset Shimmer couldn't believe how good she felt right now. Magic, real, pure, Equestrian magic flowed through her body, her every atom tingling with pure, almost electric joy. She felt the bonds of trust and affection from Twilight Sparkle and the others flowing through her. For the first time since she came to this world, she felt like herself again.

And even as the magic flowed through her, she felt something else. The firm confidence from Applejack. The gentle warmth from Fluttershy. Pinkie Pie's sheer joy at seeing Sunset's REAL magic return. The willingness to trust from Rarity. Rainbow Dash's devotion to her friends. And Twilight's love and happiness at seeing Sunset's true light shine through.

Heck, she even felt Vinyl Scratch's joyous amazement at the whole ordeal, and Spike's rising sense of triumph.

She closed her eyes and let out a joyous laugh. Tears flowed from her eyes as she underwent a personal revelation. This was it. This was the truth she had so long denied. She never would have come this far on her own... without friends. The love of those who cared for her bolstered her very being. And her love for them bolstered them in return.

Friendship is magic.

She opened her eyes and looked up, seeing a massive alicorn of pure harmony magic looming above the stage. As she watched, the alicorn reared up and fired a massive beam of rainbow energy at the Dazzlings. Their ghostly Siren avatars dissolved, destroyed by the light of friendship, their gem necklaces shattering a moment later.

The Dazzlings fell to the stage as their magic faded, reverting to human form. As the aura of heavenly magic faded, Sunset and the rest of the Rainbooms slowly lowered down towards the stage, magic holding them aloft, the seven of them watching the Dazzlings carefully as they picked themselves up.

Adagio glared at the Rainbooms, and nodded to the others. They tried to sing again, the Rainbooms bracing themselves for another attack... only for the music to come out horribly off-key. Sonata was singing too high, Aria too low, and Adagio's sound was all over the place.

The crowd booed, and began throwing food at the suddenly terrified Dazzlings. The three of them fled the stage, and Sunset, with amusement, noted that Aria was screaming at Adagio the entire time. Sunset's boots set down near the crystals, the red haired girl leaning down and picking up one of the shards. She snickered, flicking one of her pony ears as she looked over the now dull, lifeless red gem shard.

"Well, that explains why they were so protective of these things," she said.

Twilight nodded, staring at Sunset. "I guess without them, they're just three ordinary young girls..." she said, almost absently.

Sunset frowned, looking at Twilight and the others, surprised to see that they were all staring at her. "What?" she said.

"Um..." Rainbow Dash said, rubbing. "What pony species were you in Equestria, Sunset?"

"Unicorn, why?" Sunset asked, frowning. Her back felt oddly itchy for some reason.

"Uh huh..." Applejack said. "And... do unicorns have wings?"

"No, of course not!" Sunset Shimmer said, feeling her wings flare. "Why..." Wait. She whirled, looking over her shoulder. Her eyes widened as she saw the wings there. She instinctively flared them in shock. "Wha... What is... I don't..."

Twilight stroked her chin thoughtfully, looking over the girls. All of them still had pony ears, she, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash still having their wings. The magic hadn't faded yet. And as she looked, Vinyl Scratch ran up to the stage, Spike in her arms.

"Damn, girls!" the young DJ said. "That was freakin' epic!"

"WOW!" Spike said, the dragon-turned-dog jumping down and laughing happily. "I've seen both versions of you girls do the Rainbow Friendship Cannon thing a lot, but I gotta say that was one of the coolest blasts EVER! It's NEVER done that alicorn avatar thing like that before!"

Rainbow Dash grinned, flaring her wings proudly. "Heh. That's cause our music made it all twenty percent cooler!"

"More like SEVENTY PERCENT!" Spike said, almost cheering.

"Please, don't encourage her," Applejack said, snickering. "Her head's big enough already."

"Indeed," Rarity teased. "If it gets any bigger, we'll never find a fashionable hat for it."

Rainbow Dash snorted. "Please. Rainbow Dash always dresses in style," she said. "You're all just jealous that I do it without even trying."

That got a laugh out of everyone, even the nervous Sunset. The only one who didn't laugh was Twilight. "...I think we need to get to Equestria. All of us," she said after a long moment.

Sunset froze. _Go back? To... to Princess Celestia... _she thought, terrified. She began shaking fearfully.

Fluttershy frowned. "But... didn't you say you already have versions of us there? Wouldn't that be confusing?"

"Yeah!" Pinkie Pie said. "And you'd be all like 'wait, which Pinkie Pie are you' and we'd get all confused and then there's the possibility that one of us might accidentally get left behind, and wouldn't be able to go back until the portal opens again..."

Fluttershy was looking more and more distressed as Pinkie Pie rambled on, gesturing wildly. Vinyl Scratch, thankfully, intervened, clamping a hand over Pinkie's mouth.

"Dig it," she said. "You're headin' over to ponyland with Twilight, here?" The others nodded, the DJ continuing. "'Kay. So that means Twilight'd be more used to callin' her friends over there by the names y'all got here. Right?"

"Yes..." Twilight said, wondering where Vinyl was going with this.

Vinyl grinned, taking her hand away from the now silent and interested Pinkie Pie's mouth. "Answer's simple. Since they'll be the natives, the visiting versions," she said, gesturing to the gathered Rainbooms, "use nicknames instead."

The others seemed to consider that. "...Occam's Razor," Rarity said. "The simplest solution is sometimes the best."

Applejack nodded. "Ah reckon that's so," she said.

Pinkie Pie giggled. "Okay! So Applejack will be AJ, Rarity will be Rares, Fluttershy will be Flutters, Rainbow Dash will be just Dashie, and I'll just use my full name. Pinkamena," she said.

"We should probably get used to calling each other by those names now," Applejack said. "It'll help us be more used to it when we do go over there."

"Okay," Twilight said, smiling. "Then let's..." She frowned. Sunset was shivering, her arms wrapped around herself. "Sunset... Sunset, what's wrong?"

Sunset shook her head, her wings instinctively wrapping around herself. "I... I can't..." she said softly, tears in her eyes. "I can't face her again... I betrayed her, I insulted her to her face..."

Twilight put a hand on her shoulder, smiling. "Sunset... She told me... all she wants is to see you again..." she said.

Tears in her eyes, Sunset stared at her. "Why?" she said softly. "I mean, I..."

Twilight grinned. "Give her a chance," she said. "Give yourself a chance, too."

"I..." Sunset said, staring into Twilight's earnest, honest face. "Ah... all right..." she said, shaking her head.

"Um..." Fluttershy, who was trying to get used to thinking of herself as Flutters temporarily. "If... May I say something? If that's okay, I mean..."

"Of course it is, Fluttersh..." Twilight giggled. "Flutters."

Flutters nodded. "Well... um... what about the Dazzlings? They're technically criminals in Equestria, aren't they? And if we're going over there anyway..."

Dashie blinked. "Yeah, that's right. We should probably find a way to get them over there, too," she said. "They'll probably want them to face justice or something like that."

"Well, maybe," Twilight said, smiling a little.

Sunset frowned. "Twilight, they did a lot of damage back in the old days before Starswirl exiled them to this world. We don't know how long they've been active over here, so we don't know how much damage they've done here as well. Forgiving me is one thing, but forgiving those three..." she said, shaking her head. "It'd be like forgiving Discord the Mad."

Twilight's ears folded back nervously. "Eheheh... Funny you should mention that..."

Sunset stared at her, her eyes widening. "...Don't tell me that Celestia actually let him OUT!" she said.

Twilight coughed. "I... I have a bit of explaining to do," she said. "In the meantime, let's look for the Dazzlings."

"I believe I can help with that," said a voice behind them. The Rainbooms turned, seeing Principal Celestia climbing up onto the stage. "The Dazzlings have a house registered in their name. I can look it up in my records and give you the address."

Twilight smiled. "Thank you, Principal Celestia," she said.

"Yeah, this'll help us a lot!" Applejack said.

"Think nothing of it," Principal Celestia said. "I haven't been of much use during the past couple magical events, and I want to be helpful. And also..." She turned to Sunset Shimmer, adding, "I have been somewhat indelicate with your feelings since the incident before this. I want to make up for any insults I've directed towards you." Principal Celestia smiled weakly, the shame at how little she'd helped Sunset over the past few months clear.

Sunset smiled gratefully. "Thank you," she said.

.\.\.\.\.\.\.\.\.\.\.\.\.\.\.\

_An hour later..._

_Dazzlings residence..._

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"OVER! It's all over!" Aria Blaze screamed. "All our power, all our influence, GONE! We can't even SING anymore!" The light purple-skinned girl stormed back and forth around their shared bedroom, almost literally fuming. "Damn you _damn you _DAMN YOU!"

"Will you please shut up?" Adagio Dazzle muttered, her hands over her face. "I'm trying to think of what to do next..."

"WHAT can we do next!? We've lost EVERYTHING!" Aria almost shrieked.

"We still have the money Sonata won in that contest in our first month after Starswirl's seal broke," Adagio said, glaring at Aria. "We're still getting those lifetime payments into it, so we won't ever be hurting for cash. We can..."

"What?" Aria snapped. "We can what? Our singing, our magic, our influence, it was all we had! The only thing we KNEW HOW TO DO! We don't have any skills that fit into this era! Damn Starswirl's spell sending us into stasis for so damn long when we got sent here..."

"Well, that answers a couple of my questions," said a voice. Aria and Adagio whirled, their eyes widening.

Principal Celestia, the Rainbooms (sans tails, wings, and pony ears now that the magic had finally faded) minus Vinyl Scratch (who had elected to stay behind), and a nervous-looking Sonata Dusk stood in the doorway to the bedroom.

Twilight Sparkle, the one who spoke, sighed. "Sirens. You are criminals. Come back to Equestria with us and face judgment for your crimes," she said. "By order of Princess Twilight Sparkle."

"Oh gag, another one?" Adagio said. "Luna and Celestia were annoying enough. Especially Luna. Damned fear spells..."

Aria glared at Sonata. "You let them IN!?"

Sonata smiled nervously, playing with her long ponytail. "Um... I didn't think I could stop them..." she said softly, looking down at the floor. "And I didn't see the point of trying... We can't even sing..."

"Time to go back," Sunset said softly. "Time for us all to go back..."

"Yeah, no," Adagio said, smirking. "Aria, grab Sonata and..."

"Forget it," Aria said, scowling.

Adagio flinched back, as if struck. "What?!"

Aria shook her head. "Sonata's right. There's no point anymore," she said, her voice softening. She chuckled a little, the sound somewhat sad. "Sonata right. Wow. Never thought I'd say that..."

Sonata smiled a little.

Adagio shook her head disbelievingly. "Sonata... Aria... We can still find a way out of this! We may sing off-key now, but we can still win this if we sing together!"

Aria turned away. Sonata just kept looking at the floor, fiddling with her hair. Adagio, desperate, looked back and forth between them, looking for some kind of support, any sign of their former unity. But she found nothing. They had both given up.

She whirled, turning her gaze to Twilight Sparkle. A fury, like a rising inferno, bubbled up inside her. She ground her teeth, and let out a roar of rage as she charged Twilight, her hands outstretched with intent to strangle.

Principal Celestia stopped her, stepping in front of Twilight and lifting Adagio off of the ground. Adagio, furious, clawed at the air, still trying to kill Twilight. "YOU! ALL YOUR FAULT!" she screamed. "EVERYTHING GONE! EVERYTHING _WORTH _HAVING, GONE!"

The Rainbooms stepped in front of Twilight, ready to protect her, Spike taking a position in front of them all and growling. Principal Celestia just held Adagio, keeping silent and letting her struggle and flail until her energy ran out, the former siren collapsing in Principal Celestia's arms and sobbing softly.

"Forget it..." Adagio muttered. "We'll go with you... Anything's better than having our voices broken..."

Twilight and Sunset traded worried looks. This... wasn't how they expected it to go. At all. And as they looked at the other Rainbooms, the confused and worried expressions on their face showed that they were starting to feel bad about this as well.

Principal Celestia set Adagio down, the yellow-skinned girl walking back over to the nearest bed and sitting on it, staring down at the floor.

"Twilight and I will keep them here," she said. "The rest of you, make arrangements with your families to be gone for at least a day. We don't know how long it will take to take care of things in Equestria, and with the time limit on the portal..."

"The portal can be opened at any time now," Twilight said. "You all can go home whenever you like."

Principal Celestia let out a sigh of relief. "Okay. Will everyone's parents be willing to cooperate?"

"Yep," Dashie said, nodding and grinning. "My Dad's pretty easy going, so this shouldn't take long. See you girls at the portal?"

"My folks and sisters are used to me going off on weird little journeys," Pinkamena said, giggling. "This won't be anything new to them. Plus, I have the next week off work anyway!"

"Indeed," Rares said, huffing a little. "My parents are barely there anyway, and Sweetie Belle was there for both events, so she should be easy to convince. I'm completely caught up on orders at the Boutique anyway."

AJ nodded. "Same with mah granny, brother, and little sis," she said, smiling.

"Mom and Dad will... be concerned... but I think I can convince them to let me go," Flutters said softly.

Sunset fidgeted nervously. "I... I have someone I need to talk to as well..." she said.

Spike looked up at her, confused. "Really? Who?" he asked.

"I'll explain later," she said, leaving with the others.

Twilight just frowned. "More and more questions..." she said softly.

"Don't worry!" Spike said, wagging his tail happily. "I'm sure that Princess Celestia and Princess Luna will work things out!"

"I hope so..." Twilight said.

Principal Celestia chuckled weakly. "Oh, I do to. Especially since I plan to go with you," she said.

THAT got the attention of everyone in the room.

Twilight blinked. "Um... what?" she asked.

"I'm going with you," Principal Celestia said firmly. "I've been too lax in the safety of my students. I intend to rectify that from now on. Starting with NOT letting some of them go to another world filled with potential dangers without a chaperone."

Twilight giggled nervously. _Oh dear... and here I thought this day couldn't get any weirder. _

Adagio just rubbed her temples. "Two pompous sun prnicesses. Great..."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

_An hour later..._

_The portal to Equestria..._

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"Are you sure about this, sister?" Vice-Principal Luna asked, staring at the glowing base of the statue. The Rainbooms stood nearby, each one save Sunset with a travel pack holding clothing items. The Dazzlings, still looking depressed and none of them resisting, stood with ropes tied around their wrists, all of them tied to a leash that Spike was holding, the dog desperately trying to ignore the irony and concentrate on the fact that he'd be a dragon again soon.

Principal Celestia shook her head. "No..." she said finally. "But it has to be done. Sunset's sudden growth of wings she apparently didn't have in her natural form, plus the fate of the Dazzlings... Luna, I can't let this go without answers anymore. I need to learn, so I can better protect our students."

Vice-Principal Luna frowned. "If you say so," she said, hugging her elder sister tightly. "Be safe..."

"I will..." Principal Celestia said, smiling warmly and returning the hug. After a long moment, she and her sister reluctantly parted, Principal Celestia turning to Twilight and nodding.

Twilight sighed. "Okay girls... and Spike..." she said. "Let's go to Equestria."

"Oh yeah," Dashie said, pumping a fist excitedly. She jumped into the portal, AJ jumping in after her. Rares smiled.

"See you on the other side, darlings," she said, leaping in gracefully. Spike practically swooned.

"So graceful..." he cooed.

"Oh please," Aria muttered, rolling her eyes. Spike growled, yanking them forward roughly, the three sirens stumbling into the portal as he jumped in before them.

Flutters stared at the portal nervously, clutching her backpack, Angel bunny peering out of it curiously. Before she could say anything, Pinkamena came up from behind her, giggling, and pushed her inside.

Twilight just shook her head, chuckling. She turned to Sunset Shimmer, who was shaking nervously and holding herself. "I can't... Twilight, she'll never forgive me... I betrayed her, I..."

Twilight hugged her, smiling. "It'll be okay..." she said.

Sunset gave her frightened look. "Are... are you sure?"

"Trust me," Twilight said.

Principal Celestia came up behind her. "Come," she said, taking Sunset's hand. "We'll go through together."

Sunset managed to smile, comforted by the two of them supporting her. With a deep breath, Sunset stepped through, Twilight and Principal Celestia stepping through the portal with her.

For the native Equestrians, the sensation of their bodies changing and shifting was a familiar one, as they took forms that they knew again. For the humans, the experience was at once both thrilling and terrifying all at once. An electric tingle filled them as the magic engulfed them, their entire bodies going numb and then reshaping, changing into something new. And then an even stronger tingle filled them, pure excitement and bliss condensed into energy, as magic filled them...

Twilight emerged from the portal alongside Sunset Shimmer and Principal Celestia. Almost immediately, Principal Celestia, now an alicorn clad in a jacket with a datebook for a Cutie Mark, stumbled and fell on her face, her wings flaring widely and knocking down both Sunset and Twilight.

Principal Celestia blinked, looking herself over. "...Of the many things I was expecting, it certainly wasn't this," she said, flicking her tail.

Twilight giggled. "I told you. Magical pony princess," she said, looking around the room. The Dazzlings, now ponies with weblike wings, stood off to one side, trying not to look at the others. Rares, AJ, Dashie, Pinkamena, and Flutters were trying to get used to their bodies, fumbling around as they tried to get used to being quadrupedal, Flutters version of Angel bunny trying to help her. And to her steadily decreasing surprise, they all had different Cutie Marks than their Equestrian counterparts. Specifically, Rares had a needle and spool of thread for her mark, AJ had one large apple as her mark, Flutters had a rabbit for her mark, Pinkamena had a three layer cake for her mark, and Dashie had a basketball and soccer ball as her mark.

"Hey, sweet, we got tattoos now," Dashie said, noticing her Cutie Mark for the first time. "Wish it was something a bit cooler than a couple of balls..."

"That makes sense..." Twilight said softly. "Their talents are all different from the versions of themselves that are here, so of course their Cutie Marks would be different."

She turned to Sunset, who was staring at her sides with an unreadable expression on her face. Twilight gasped softly, seeing that Sunset Shimmer now sported a pair of wings.

"Sunset..." Twilight said softly. "You're an alicorn. Like me..."

"I don't understand..." Sunset said softly. "This... this wasn't my destiny... my actions at the Formal proved it..."

Before anypony could say anything, Spike, a dragon again, rushed in, breathless. "Okay, good, you're here," he said upon noticing Twilight. "I sent a letter to... whoa..." He paused, noticing Sunset Shimmer's wings. "Okay, really glad I sent off that letter now."

"You contacted the Princess?" Twilight asked.

Spike nodded. "In fact, if I know her, she'll probably appear as soon as I finish this sentence," he said.

Which she did, appearing in the middle of visiting humans-turned-ponies. "Spike," Princess Celestia said. "I'm here. What is..." Her eyes went wide when she saw Sunset Shimmer.

Sunset began shaking again, grinning nervously. "H-Hi..." she said softly.

Princess Celestia said nothing, just staring at Sunset Shimmer, glancing from her newly-gained wings to her face. "You... You're here..." she said softly. "You've come back..."

Sunset gulped nervously, and stood up. "Yes... and I'm ready to..."

A happy grin appeared on Princess Celestia's face. "Oh Twilight, you've done it again," she said, laughing.

Twilight blinked, confused. "Princess?"

Princess Celestia nodded. "Yes... first you bring my sister back to me when I couldn't... and now you've brought home one whom I love as a daughter..." To everyone's surprise, especially Sunset's, Princess Celestia scooped up Sunset and hugged her tightly. "I've missed you so much!"

Twilight gasped softly, the others trading amazed grins at this. Sunset pushed herself away, frowning. "But... I betrayed you... I ran away, and I stole the Element of Magic..."

"If anyone needs to ask forgiveness, it's me," Princess Celestia said, still smiling. "I failed to teach you properly the value of friendship, and instead of helping you, I tried to stifle you. But that doesn't matter now."

Sunset shook her head. "But you said... you said being an alicorn wasn't my destiny..."

"And I've never been happier to be wrong," Princess Celestia said, hugging her once more. This time, Sunset Shimmer didn't resist, hugging Princess Celestia back and grinning.

Twilight, for her part, was still a bit confused. But Princess Celestia was smiling, a rare, REAL smile. And she was more than happy to have been part of the source of it.

Principal Celestia grinned widely at her counterpart's happiness, although she couldn't help but feel a little jealous. She had never had children of her own, save for her students.

The five humans-turned-ponies grinned widely at the sight of the happy reunion. They still weren't sure of what to make of all this, but seeing Sunset REALLY happy made up for a lot of the confusion.

The Dazzlings, who had huddled in a corner after Princess Celestia appeared, whispered amongst themselves.

"I can feel our magic steadily returning. Now that we're back home..." Adagio said softly. "Maybe we can..."

"Can what, escape?" Aria snorted. "We'd never make it out the door."

"There's something else..." Sonata said softly, a sad smile on her face.

"What now?" Adagio muttered.

"Even if we get our full powers back," she sang softly, her voice horribly off-key, "I don't think we can do much with them."

Adagio and Aria stared in horror. Their voices were broken even in this world. And a siren who couldn't sing might as well be powerless...

Spike, glancing briefly over to the Dazzlings, overheard their conversation and was satisfied for now that they'd behave. He looked over at Princess Celestia and Sunset Shimmer, smiling.

There was still a lot to do, but for now he could be satisfied with a job well done.

_**TO BE CONTINUED...**_


End file.
